Sinclair Feldman's Arc

Chapter 4 of 4

Sinclair set his hands flat on the table. Three faces waited. He opened his mouth to start when boots scraped the gate. A runner staggered through, jacket dark with blood, a cracked photo frame clutched to his chest. He went down hard near the fire. Zelda was already standing. Sinclair saw the whole board in one breath. If Zelda left the table, the meeting broke. If he waved her back, the runner died and she would never sit with him again. The rusted red-cross kit sat at her feet, set there before the meeting like she had known the night would bleed. She had come ready for both jobs. He had only planned for one. "Go," Sinclair said. He stood with her. "Marcus. Achilles. The table waits. I'm helping her." Marcus tipped his hat back, surprised. Achilles watched without moving. Sinclair knelt in the dirt and pressed his palms where Zelda told him to press. Hot blood pushed through his fingers. The runner's eyes found his. The cracked frame slid free — a woman's face under broken glass, and a folded scrap of paper tucked behind it. Zelda worked fast. Sinclair read the paper one-handed while pressure held. Kira Dallas. Three lines, clipped and exact. Bunker channel burned. Eyes on the yard tonight. Move the meeting or lose it. He folded it small. The mechanic cat trotted up with clean rags and crouched beside Zelda without a word, steady as a nurse. The runner's breathing thinned, then held. "He'll live," Zelda said. She did not look at Sinclair. "That was the right call." She wiped her hands on her thigh and walked back to the table with blood still on her wrists. Marcus had not moved. Achilles had poured a fourth cup. The chair Sinclair left was still warm. Sinclair sat. He set the folded note in the center of the table where all three could see it. "We're being watched right now," he said. "Kira sent this through a man who almost died carrying it. We close tonight, or we move and we close somewhere they can't see us. Your call." The fire popped. The deal was still alive. The yard was not safe anymore.